Blackfly is a 1991 animated short film by Christopher Hinton, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
It is inspired by the famous 1949 folk song by Wade Hemsworth, "The Black Fly Song". The song tells the story of one summer when Hemsworth went up to northern Ontario as part of a crew that was building a dam on the Little Abitibi River. Hemsworth, as the song tells, spent all summer plagued by the ubiquitous black flies of the Canadian north, finally vowing as he leaves that he'll never go to north Ontario again. The animated short features Hemsworth singing his own song as the animation gives a comic portrait of the black flies that plagued his existence.
It can be found online through the NFB's official Youtube channel
.
Compare The Fly, another acclaimed animated short that has a rather different take on flies.
Tropes:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Hemsworth pronounces Ontario as "Ontar-ay-oh" to fit the meter.
- The Cat Came Back: No matter where the main character goes, the black flies find him, even when he goes to the moon.
- Changed for the Video: A new arrangement with backing vocals by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.
- Couch Gag: The NFBC eye is shown scratching its arms and swatting a blackfly.
- Dem Bones: A dancing skeleton appears during the closing credits, referring to the line "I'll die with a black fly picking my bones."
- The Film of the Song: Hemsworth's song made into a cartoon.
- "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: After the train takes Hemsworth away from north "Ontar-ay-oh-ay-oh" and he finally escapes the black flies.
- The Stinger: The sound of black flies buzzing, briefly, after the credits end.
- The Swarm: Downplayed. While Hemsworth frets he'll "die with a blackfly pickin' [his] bones", the titular blackflies are more of a nuisance than a threat.
- Titled After the Song: "The Black Fly Song"
